Tang San stood at the back of the crowd, his hands clenched into fists, his nails nearly digging into his palms.
His once-clear blue eyes now burned with undisguised jealousy and resentment.
Why?
Why could those women make the rankings?
Why could they become Soul Douluo at level eighty-nine?
He was the one destined by heaven! He had Twin Martial Souls! He had the Mysterious Heaven Skill and the Tang Sect Secret Arts!
And yet now, he was being trampled beneath the feet of a group of women he had never even taken seriously!
Those women were his age, perhaps even younger, yet they had already reached heights he could only dream of!
What he found even harder to accept was that Brother Cao.
Every one of those women on the ranking kept saying they wanted to go find Brother Cao!
The tenderness, admiration, and devotion in their eyes stirred an indescribable jealousy in Tang San's heart.
He wanted to become someone like that, too!
He wanted people to look up to him and worship him!
"Cao XX..." Tang San muttered under his breath, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. "One day, I'll surpass you."
Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong wore inexplicably strange expressions.
They couldn't help looking at Zhu Zhuqing, because they knew that Zhu Zhuyun, who had made the ranking, was Zhu Zhuqing's biological older sister.
Zhu Zhuqing's expression, however, was quite a sight.
Her cool, stunning little face now held a hint of surprise, a hint of understanding, and a hint of... indescribable complexity.
Zhu Zhuyun... her older sister had made the ranking.
So her sister had also...
Just imagine how awkward it would be when she made the ranking someday!
Brother Cao really was a super womanizer!
Dai Mubai's feelings were the most complicated. He was both shocked and furious, yet there was also a trace of indescribable delight.
Zhu Zhuyun had actually made the Genius Ranking!
That woman he had never even looked at properly, whom he considered nothing more than a tool for a political marriage, was actually such a terrifying figure!
The good news was that Zhu Zhuyun had broken with the Zhu Family! She had broken with Dai Weisi!
What did that mean?
It meant Dai Weisi's political marriage had fallen through!
It meant Dai Weisi had lost the support of an eighty-ninth-level Soul Douluo!
It meant that in the future struggle for the throne, his chances of winning had greatly increased!
The corners of Dai Mubai's mouth lifted slightly, and a pleased gleam flashed in his eyes.
Although he himself hadn't made the ranking, Zhu Zhuyun's defection was practically the best news he could have hoped for!
"Boss Dai, what are you smiling about?" Oscar asked curiously.
"It's nothing, nothing." Dai Mubai quickly reined in his smile and put on a serious expression. "I was just thinking that this Genius Ranking is incredible. We have to work hard at cultivation, too."
Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts—
"Boom!"
Golden light erupted across the Sky Screen once more!
[Genius Ranking, Eleventh Place: Zhu Zhuqing.] [Identity: Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire, Shrek Academy student.] [Strength: Level 89 Soul Douluo.] [Cultivation Technique: Yin-Yang Reincarnation Art.] [Reward: All soul rings' age increased by 3,000 years.]
"Another level eighty-nine! And the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique again!"
"That makes five! This is the fifth one!"
"My heavens, just how many people has Brother Cao trained?"
"They're all young, beautiful women. This technique really is improper!"
"Shut your mouth! If you dare call them improper, one slap from them will kill you!"
The golden beam descended from the sky and precisely enveloped the slender figure in black among the crowd.
A faint sense of relief appeared in Zhu Zhuqing's usually cool eyes.
At last, at last she didn't have to hide anymore.
The Shrek group wore a truly colorful array of expressions.
Dai Mubai was dumbstruck!
He stood rooted to the spot, his mouth hanging wide open.
He stared fixedly at the figure bathed in golden light, his mind utterly blank.
Just a moment ago... just a moment ago, he had been secretly delighted that Zhu Zhuyun had defected. He'd been thinking that Dai Weisi had lost an eighty-ninth-level ally and that his own chances had greatly improved...
But in the blink of an eye, karma had come for him.
And it had come so fast, so mercilessly.
Zhu Zhuqing! His fiancée!
She had also cultivated that improper Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique!
Was she... going to find Brother Cao, too?
An indescribable fury and humiliation surged up from the depths of Dai Mubai's heart, instantly setting his eyes ablaze!
"Zhuqing!"
He abruptly stepped forward, his handsome face twisted like that of a vengeful ghost.
"You... you cultivated that improper technique, too? You... you have no shame!"
"You're just like those women. That Brother Cao... you... all of you..."
"Bitches!"
He couldn't go on, because Zhu Zhuqing had slowly opened her eyes.
Her gaze was as cool as ever, colder than before.
She looked at Dai Mubai as if he were a clown, her eyes so indifferent they held not a trace of warmth.
"Finished?"
Dai Mubai froze.
Then he felt a force like an avalanche crashing fiercely into his chest!
"Bang!!!"
A black blur streaked through the air. Dai Mubai's burly body flew backward like a kite with its strings cut, sent more than ten zhang away by a single kick. He slammed into the railing at the edge of the training grounds, shattering the sturdy wooden barrier!
"You can say whatever you want about me, but you can't speak ill of Brother Cao."
"I don't want Brother Cao to get the wrong idea!"
"Pfft!"
Dai Mubai spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed among the splintered wood, his eyes full of disbelief and humiliation.
Zhu Zhuqing slowly lowered her long leg without sparing Dai Mubai another glance.
"Coward."
She uttered the word coolly, her voice as cold as ice.
"When you abandoned me and ran away, why didn't you ask yourself whether you deserved to be my man?"
She lifted her head and gazed at the Sky Screen, tenderness appearing in her eyes.
"Even a single hair on Brother Cao has more guts than you."
The entire crowd fell into dead silence!
Ma Hongjun stood there with his mouth hanging open, disbelief written all over his chubby face.
He looked at Dai Mubai, who had been kicked away, then at Zhu Zhuqing, then at himself. His mind couldn't keep up.
"W-we have someone on the Shrek Seven Devils who made the ranking?" he murmured. "And she'd been hiding it this well? An eighty-ninth-level Soul Douluo?! Good heavens, when we cultivated together, was she just playing with us the whole time?"
Oscar was also stunned. He sneaked a glance at Ning Rongrong beside him, a frightening thought rising in his mind. Could Rongrong also...?
Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong exchanged a glance. Their expressions were a little peculiar, but neither said a word.
"Th-this..." Flender stammered, at a loss for words.
Yu Xiaogang, however, suddenly sprang up from the stone bench as if someone had injected him with chicken blood!
He stumbled toward Zhu Zhuqing, his pale face alight with fervent excitement and longing!
"Zhuqing! Classmate Zhu Zhuqing!"
His voice trembled, sharp and shrill, utterly lacking the composure he usually carried as a Grandmaster.
"You know Brother Cao, don't you? Could you introduce me to him?"
"I want to meet him! I want to seek his guidance! The Yin-Yang Reincarnation Technique! It must be a supreme technique that surpasses every theory! If I can just get his guidance, my theories will surely be proven! The name Yu Xiaogang will go down in history!"
The more he spoke, the more excited he became, a nearly frenzied light shining in his eyes.